Managing People and Careers

This document provides information on managing people and careers. It includes a cover letter, CV, application form answers, interview practice, and assessment center practice. The content covers topics such as job applications, group work, problem-solving, and time management.

Managing People
and Careers

Table of Contents
COVER LETTER (MAX. 500 WORDS).......................................................................................................3
CV (Maximum 2 sides of A4)..................................................................................................................4
APPLICATION FORM (maximum 200 words per answer).......................................................................6
INTERVIEW PRACTICE (MAX 200 WORDS).............................................................................................8
ASSESSMENT CENTRE PRACTICE (MAX. 200 WORDS)............................................................................9

COVER LETTER (MAX. 500 WORDS)
18 December 2019
Grove Place, Wellington Rd
High Wycombe HP12 3PR
United Kingdom
Dear Ms. ABC,
I am XYZ and writing this letter to apply for the post of Administration Assistant in Arcadia
Merchandise, as advertised on organisational website dated 15 December 2019. I possess relevant
skills, knowledge and experience for the vacancy in the company. I have 2 years experience in the
same field in a well renowned multinational corporation of United Kingdom. Thereby, I was tasked
with a number of responsibilities. A few of them comprise of filing photocopies, responding to or
transmitting the calls to relevant organisational department with a view to provide effective services
to client and resolve their queries either on call or by email. Having the desired and relevant
qualifications and experience for the post of Administration Assistant, I seek to be a part of your
company.
Since the time of my graduation, I have had keen interest in fashion industry and I kept myself
updated of all the recent as well as emerging trends in market place. I want to be a part of fashion
retail business so as to pursue a career in my field of interest and experience. This would provide me
with the opportunity to enrich my professional personality and undergo development on a constant
basis. By joining your company, I can get a platform whereby I can showcase my skills, knowledge
and experience pertaining to this field. This would result in growth of mine as well as the
organisation as a whole.
Please review my resume which is attached with the cover letter along with the documents that will
give you authenticity of my experience as well as background. I hope that you will offer me the
opportunity to participate in the further evaluation process for the respective job position. Kindly,
contact me via my mail id [e-mail] for any details required.
Thanks for giving your time and consideration.
XYZ

CV (Maximum 2 sides of A4)
A Curriculum Vitae is detailed document which highlight individual professional as well as
academic history. While applying for job organisation ask for CV as well there are numerous
information covered within this such as work experience, achievements and awards, scholarships or
grands individual earned, academic coursework, research project and publication of your work.
Along with this, curriculum vitae is similar to resume, but CV utilise by candidate more frequently
whose work is published in journals like scientists or academic professionals. There are several
importance of designing good CV as it give good image on interviewer and chances of getting place
increase. Thus, it is essential for individual to design CV effectively.
Name: XXXXX
Address: XXXXXXX
Contact: 123456789
E-Mail ID: [e-mail]
Professional Summary
Dedicated administrative assistant with 2 year experience in managing organisation. I have worked
with several branches such as human resource as well as payroll this allowed me to improve my
working and communication skills within numerous departments. Senior managers and executives
of company rely on me for maintaining schedules, oversee meetings and improve customer
relationships.
Skills
 Comfortable in performing several role such as payroll support, personal assistant, front
desk reception and organisational point of contact.
 Excellent communication skill in verbal and written both manner. Including dealing with
complaints of customers and formal presentation to executives.
 Have good planning and coordinating skills as well can facilitate physical meeting and
remote video conferences.
 Have basic knowledge related to Microsoft Office applications, Intuit Quick Books and
Oracle People Soft.
Working experience
 Company -Career Office at University of Manchester
 Job profile – Administrative Assistant
 Duration – 10/2018 to 10/2019
 Roles and responsibilities – Processed document before, during as well as after semester
for exchange students. In addition to this, facilitated events within semester for buddies as
well as their exchange students.
Education, Certification and Courses
 Bachelor's of Science in Economics (Business Economics & Public Policy) University of

Manchester in 08/2015 to 06/2018
 Organisational management certification in 08/2017 from University of International
Association of Administrative Professionals West Florida
 Certified Administrative Professional in 05/2016 from International Association of
Administrative Professional.
 Administrative Assistant Course in 2015 from Penn Foster career School
Volunteer Initiatives
 Selected for attaining GLOBE 2012, the 12th event within world's largest as well as longest
running event series dedicated to business and the environment.
 Volunteered in the Church Name to help in organising annual visits to the elderly.
Hobbies and interest
Avid reader as well as host of bimonthly book club. Along with this, I e njoy learning to cook unique
meals from a several of international cuisines. Active in local Professional Women’s Support Group.
Assistant leader for local Girl Scout troop. Volunteer at library teaching seminars on Microsoft Office for
beginners.
Declaration
I hereby certify that above mention information is true as well as correct to the best of my
knowledge and belief.

APPLICATION FORM (maximum 200 words per answer)
1. Why do you want to work for us?
I am interested in working as a part of Arcadia Merchandise as it is one of the most well renowned
and reputed organisations within the confines of United Kingdom. This organisation fulfils the needs
and demands of customers by providing them with fashionable and trendy clothes that are aligned
with the current market trends. The approach adopted by your company to take into account the
latest trends of business environment to cater to the preferences placed by customers and satisfy
them in the best possible manner is what appeals to me the most. Also, I have acknowledged that
Arcadia not only takes efforts to meet the needs of customers but also seeks to create a positive
working environment for the employees. This instils a sense of loyalty among the staff members and
encourages them to give their best performance. The initiatives taken up by the firm to provide
empowerment opportunities to staff members is what appeals to me the most and encourage me to
apply for a post in Arcadia Merchandise. Further, I think I have all the capabilities through which I
can offer the roles and responsibilities associated with the role of Administration Assistant and
inflate the current progress of entity.
2. Tell us about a time you worked in a group to achieve an objective (what did you do and
what was the outcome?)
During my tenure at University, I was once given a group project the presentation of which was to be
presented in college auditorium on World Youth Skills Day. The group project was a competition that
was to be judged by external judges as well as senior college management. Hereby, the members of
the group were required to present a PPT for 8 minutes based on the topic “success achieved by 3
top multinationals within a period of previous 5 years”. For this, our group mutually decided to
execute all the preparation for presentation by conducting 5 rounds of meeting. The first meeting
aimed at allotment of roles and responsibilities to each team member. I was tasked with 2
responsibility, making arrangements for the meetings & deciding a time when everyone was free
and compilation of the work. The free time period of every individual varied which made my
responsibility difficult to be executed. However, by having an interaction with each person on a one
on one basis, I was able to decide a common time for the 4 meetings. With the execution of all the
meetings, the project was successfully completed by us and compilation was done by me. Thus, we
were able to present our PPT in front of everyone and stood 2nd in the competition.
3. Tell us about a time when you identified a new approach to solve a problem. (what did
you do and what was the outcome?)
While I was in college, I was once given a research assignment wherein I had to study “the impact of
cloud computing over organisation's IT functional unit” by conducting a survey of 100 individuals and
communicating the findings to a group of non technical individuals. The time frame for executing this
task was 5 days. Within this time period, I had to discover the findings of survey and convert the
analysis into simple language as technical knowledge was difficult to be understood by people from
non technical backgrounds. I exercised critical thinking to find the merits and demerits of all the
approaches through which the task could be executed. Finally, I arrived at the decision of presenting
the findings with the help of PPT. This assisted me in presenting the technical information and
statistics into a comprehensible manner which could be easily interpreted by anyone among the non
technical group. I made use of graphs to present the data in an effective manner, not leaving any
mark for scope of misinterpretation of findings of the survey. On the 6th day, when I showed the
Presentation in front of the group, the group was impressed by the efforts put in by me and praised
me for my thoughtful approach of using PPT.
4. Tell us about a time when you had to manage a number of different priorities and
complete a number of tasks in a short amount of time (what did you do and what was the
outcome?)

During my college tenure, I was given a project to be made upon a multinational of UK and its
working pattern. Also, I was tasked with the responsibility of doing improvements in a project given
in last semester. It was difficult for me to do the prioritization of tasks as I had my semester exams in
next week so I had to study for that also. Yet all these 3 tasks were urgent and needed to be done on
a prior basis. Thus, I decided to ascertain time required for all the three tasks and then decide their
superiority while doing things. After calculating individual time for all, I decided that I will first
complete the old project in which I just had to make certain modifications so as to meet
requirements of college faculties. Next on order list decided by me was the new project assigned to
me recently and lastly, I decided to study for my exams. In this way, by prioritising all the projects, I
successfully managed to complete every task within set time frame.
5. Tell us about a project you worked on that required you to persuade others to your point
of view (what did you do and what was the outcome?)
While I was undergoing graduation course at university, I was given a group task to be performed
with 4 other members. The manner of presenting the information of assignment was up to the
group. In this relation, I was eager to present the information by way of Power Point Presentation.
On the other hand, the members of my group were keen on preparing a written report to display the
findings of assignment. They wanted to prepare a report as in past, many groups had opted for the
report presentation and secured high grades in assignment. However, I was adamant that PPT is an
effective and strong way to display the information in front of tutor and other students. To convince
the members regarding my way of presenting information, I decided to show them a 2 min
demonstration of the manner in which I wanted to present the information in front of the tutor.
When my team mates saw my presentation, they were quite satisfied and got convinced upon the
delivery of data through the usage of PPT. Thus, by applying my spontaneous and critical thinking, I
was able to think of an idea of persuading my team members and succeeded in doing so in an
effective manner.

INTERVIEW PRACTICE (MAX 200 WORDS)
In the interview process, I was capable to identify certain positive as well as negative
aspects which helped in enrichment of my personality:-
Positive:
 In the interview process, I was the single person who wore professional attire which
positively impacted upon my interview. Along with this, it provided me confidence which
was advantageous for me to overcome my nervousness.
 I used professional language for communication and gave clear answers which impressed
the interviewer. It further maximised my chance of getting selected for this role.
 Interviewer also observed my body language at the time of representing myself.
Negative:
 At the time of answering to the interview questions, I found that I was losing my
concentration when they asked me irrelevant questions. It was done by them to check my
focus in the task but it negatively impacted over my performance at the interview.
 When I was sharing my past working experiences with the interview panel then I understood
that, I had nothing much to share which created extensive nervousness and complex within
me.

ASSESSMENT CENTRE PRACTICE (MAX. 200 WORDS)
Assessment centre practice was executed within the groups where I found that, I was
enjoying my self because of my agonistic nature. After reviewing all the events, I could identify some
positive as well as negative aspects which are explained in a brief manner as follows:-
Positive:
 Group discussion was very good which improved my knowledge. My view point was so
effective and strong that other people also listened to my point of view.
 I paid attention to every detail mentioned within the group communication which enhanced
my listening skills.
Negative:
 Because it is the group task, not everyone equally participated which was not good.
Irrespective of this fact, I was able to concentrate on my task and execute it as per the
requirements.
 A number of conflicts emerged within the group members as a result of the diverging point
of views held by all the participants. This hampered the team performance as a whole and
resulted in delay in attainment of team goal.

References
Apostel, S., 2015. Addressing social media presence: Shifting from place to space in
career/transfer ePortfolios. The Journal of Faculty Development. 29(2). pp.63-70.
Archibald, R. D. and Archibald, S., 2016. Leading and Managing Innovation: What Every
Executive Team Must Know about Project, Program, and Portfolio Management.
Auerbach Publications.
Cuzzocrea, V., 2015. Young people and employability. Handbook of children and youth
studies, pp.1-10.
Holm, A. B. and Haahr, L., 2018. E-recruitment and Selection. In e-HRM (pp. 172-195).
Routledge.
Huemann, M., 2016. Managing the project-oriented organization. In Gower Handbook of
Project Management (pp. 493-506). Routledge.A98380